How to Find a Cheap Hotel Room: Sites to Use and Sites to Avoid

As much as I love hostels and other forms of cheap accommodation, there is something nice about the luxuriousness of hotels. They are clean and quiet and feature comfy beds, strong showers, and lots of soap I can take for later.

But luxury comes at a price. Hotels certainly aren’t cheap, and I hate spending a lot of money for a room I am only going to be in for a few hours. It’s why I mostly avoid hotels — I don’t think they are a good use of money (and there are far better accommodation options out there). If I’m not in a hostel, you can usually find me at a cheap guesthouse or at an Airbnb.

But I’ve been traveling a lot for “work” lately (conferences, speaking gigs), and with the seemingly endless hotel booking sites out there, I decided this was a good time to do some testing and find out which sites offered the best deals.

I also picked five cities to research: London, Los Angeles, Paris, NYC, and Seattle. I picked stays close to the current date of research and then far in advance, on both weekdays and weekends. (I did my research end of March, which is why the dates are different than what you’d expect from a post published in early May.)

3/28-3/30

4/1-4/3

Expedia

Hotels

TravelPony

Booking

Hotwire

Priceline

2*

$44

$52

$-

$144

$82

$50

3*

$62

$66

$102

$142

$93

$86

4*

$93

$141

$169

$178

$165

$119

So what can we learn from this data? Is one site better than the rest?

I went into this experiment with the assumption that Hotels.com and Expedia would have the most expensive rates and Hotwire would be the cheapest (casual searches in the past had led me to believe this). TravelPony has shown a lot of promise, but they are new and have limited inventory (sometimes they returned zero listings), so I didn’t have great expectations for them.

But the data proved my theory wrong.

First, when TravelPony had availability, they usually won, especially in the 3- and 4-star categories. They blew the competition right out of the water. In many instances, they are substantially cheaper than their competitors.

Why? Well, for that, let’s step back for a moment and talk about why prices are what they are. Hotels have a variety of rates: prepaid, flexible, corporate, discounted, and more. And while rates go up and down based on demand, they don’t (luckily) swing as widely as airline prices. They are a bit more static.

Hotels sell rooms to these booking sites at a discount, which is why you often see rates cheaper on these sites than on the hotel’s website (more on this in a bit). The big booking companies then price in their costs, marketing, and whatever else to come up with a base for their displayed price. TravelPony doesn’t do that (according to the CEO, as I asked why his rates were so low in an interview). They simply rely on word of mouth. Plus, they require you register to see the hotel prices, thus falling into a “club” category that allows them to give cheaper rates. They are getting the same rates as the big booking sites but don’t need to increase their price as much.

As for the other websites, Expedia and Priceline were the cheapest in 17 instances while Hotwire was in only 10. Hotels.com was the cheapest in 13 instances.

The clear loser was Booking.com, which only offered the cheapest rate in 3 instances.

Note: If there was a tie, both booking sites were counted as having the lowest price.

But those overall numbers mask a lot of variance. In the same city, depending on hotel class, we could have a different winner each time. TravelPony was the winner in the US and in higher-class hotels while Priceline was great for 2-star hotels, Hotwire for 3-star, and Expedia dominated London and Paris.

Note: This past weekend I did another round of testing and even added in two new cities: San Francisco and Rome. The results were pretty much the same, though Booking.com tied with Priceline in 2-star hotels in San Francisco, regardless of date.

Before I go into what this means for the booking process, it is important to remember that when you book hotels via third-party websites, you don’t earn hotel points or status for your stay. In order to get that, you must book directly with the hotel. And this is why these online booking sites can offer cheaper prices. In exchange for that, hotels make them give up their customer’s right to award and elite status eligibility (also, their massive purchasing power helps).

Three Final Websites

Before we go into the booking process, let’s bring up three final websites:

First, what about those meta search sites like Trivago or Hotelscombined? Hotelscombined claims to search thousands of websites (including hostel booking sites) but my cursory searching showed that they didn’t return as many cheap places as they say they will. They showed a cheap 3-star room in downtown London in June for $134 per night, but Expedia came back with $91. And they often didn’t show more than just a couple of websites. I’d skip them.

I would AVOID Trivago. My research showed that they consistently overrated their hotel listings. A four-star hotel on their site was listed as a two- or three-star hotel (or a three-star was a one-star) on the site they took you to for the actual booking process. This was consistent over numerous cities and dates. Here’s a screen shot to illustrate the point:

On Trivago:

When I went to Priceline:

They also rated a hostel in NYC as four stars (no hostel is ever four stars). I didn’t catch it the first couple of times, but when I did, I was shocked. Because Trivago sends you right to the booking page on another website, this change of class would be easily missed by consumers. You might end up in a two-star hotel when you wanted a four-star. I don’t think they are intentionally misleading people, but the error occurred often enough where I wouldn’t trust Trivago and will say you absolutely shouldn’t use them.

Finally, let’s talk about Tingo. Tingo is a website that refunds your money if the price of your hotel room falls after you book it. It’s a wonderful way to ensure you don’t have to worry about getting screwed. Before I booked anything, I would check your hotel’s price on this website to see if it is lower or equal to the prices you found on the other search sites. If it was, I would book here to take advantage of their price-drop offer. You can’t go wrong with them.

How to Book a Hotel

Hotel pricing is a lot more set than airline pricing and tends to fluctuate less. I wouldn’t spend hours searching hotel websites or days tracking prices like people do with airline prices.

I would start with your preferred site (for US hotels, I’d make that TravelPony), search two or three other websites, and then check the hotel’s website (don’t forget to call — hotels often match rates). I’d spend, at the max, 30 minutes on booking a hotel. I found that the variation between sites isn’t enough to justify spending hours looking for a deal. At the end of the day, wasting hours of your life isn’t worth trying to save a dollar or two. Moreover, many larger booking sites have their own loyalty reward programs and, if you consistently use one site, the rewards might be worth it to stay with just one site, even if it isn’t the cheapest option.

For me, booking a cheap hotel looks like this:

Start off with Priceline, Expedia, TravelPony, or your favorite booking site. (If you are booking in Asia, use Agoda. They are hands down the best site for the region.)

Double-check a few more sites just to cover your bases.

Skip the poor sites mentioned here.

Cross check with Tingo.

Book a place.

Go on with your day.

Don’t spend hours searching for a hotel room. My research showed prices don’t fluctuate that much, so it’s not worth the time to do so. Follow the steps above, get a great cheap room, and enjoy your trip.

Thank you for all this helpful research! I usually do a quick search and book the one that’s the cheapest, if of course I’m not staying with friends or family. This will come in handy as I book a few more trips before heading to Spain for the year.

SO helpful. I need to send this to a few of my friends. I’ve used Priceline in the past, especially their bidding feature and have been happy 90% of the time. However, I’m a big fan of airbnb lately. I haven’t heard of TravelPony so I’ll definitely be checking that out. Thanks for sharing, Matt!

It’s worth noting that all of these websites leave cookies which then boost prices on subsequent searches on that page and other travel website pages. In other words, if they know you’re looking to book in Seattle from May 5-7, those prices will increase as you keep checking. Your best bet is to browse in a private/incognito browser, or clear your cookies & restart every time.

Booking sites track everything and they definitely use cookies to track behavior and change prices. How often it happens is a matter of conjecture. If you plan to look at places over a a few different browsing sessions, I would consider clearing your cookies.

How is this data driven when you are not comparing identical products? Hotel pricing varies wildly based on availability, location, room type and any number of variables which have nothing to do with ‘star rating’.

Secondly, dynamic pricing? “Booking sites track everything and they definitely use cookies to track behavior and change prices.” Have you ever considered that pricing is often based on availability and may change based on demand, so returning a few days later will often mean that pricing has been adjusted? Upping the price based purely on a returning customer’s cookie just serves to annoy the customer and ensure that they are less likely to book through the site.

I have been through all the above and now find the cheapest way for hotels is putting the dates into tripadvisor and they act as a search engine and bring up rates from 5/6 of your usual sites such as hotels.com etc. make sure you click “more” and see all the quotes as the cheapest rate doesnt always come up on the main price section.

To your comment on another article: Articles about my life and what I’m doing are not fluff pieces. This is a PERSONAL blog and as such I write about personal things, such as changing how I travel. I write because I enjoy it. Read or don’t read but my thoughts aren’t fluff to me. I don’t tell you your thoughts are useless. You know why? Because no one’s personal thoughts are useless.

Stop coming and telling me mine are. Take up a hobby and stop acting like a five year old.

I’ve never met Matt and I doubt I ever will. I’m way beyond his target age range. But I love reading everything he writes, what’s going on with that segment of the traveling population. I don’t understand why anybody would continue to read something they didn’t relate to or why they would bother to take the time to complain. It’s not as if there are a bazillion other travel blogs out there. Go read some and lay off Matt.

amen sister! What does he want, his money back? It can be all about Matt if he wants because it’s his website. He’s generous enough to share information that many people find valuable. I assume that most people either like it or are classy and/or unclueless enough to realize that it’s not about them, and if they don’t like it, they’re welcome to look at another website (or do their own research). Thank goodness Matt doesn’t let the naysayers get him down, or one or two bozos could ruin it for the rest of us! I appreciate the reminders to think in terms of possibilities and to be open to new ideas as much as anything else.

Carolyn–Were you referring to age when you said you weren’t Matt’s target audience? If so, I respectfully disagree. I’m 63. I took my first solo hiking/hosteling trip at 55 and am still looking forward to whatever the next one will be. Plus information as in this column is useful for any traveller. Check out http://alisonanddon.wordpress.com whom Matt turned me on to, and hit the road!

Another point that needs to be looked at with these sites is how the booking and processing happens.. As an example, expedia takes your money then pays the hotel, booking.com on the other hand only takes the booking, the hotel charged you direct. Where this comes into play is if you need to change a booking, with expedia you call there call centre which is off shore, with expedia you call the hotel direct. In 2012 we were stuck in NYC when hurrican sandy hit, our next destinations were LA and Vegas. Our LA booking was through booking.com, we contacted the hotel direct and made a date change, all up 2-3 minutes, Vegas booking was expedia, we contacted them direct and spent over an hour try to change the booking before hanging up in frustration, contacted the hotel direct and was told must make alteration through expedia. Again contacted expedia, after another hour on the phone managed to get a refund then rebooked through booking.com

I noticed you didn’t mention the Hotels.com price match. Maybe they don’t offer this in all areas. I often search through Trivago and then book with hotels.com, price-matching if necessary. I prefer them because I get free nights as part of the rewards.
But I have had issues with them (and their mother company Expedia) in taking a ridiculously long to issue refunds. In fact I am still waiting (3 months later) for Expedia to refund me for a flight cancelled by the airline. And I warn anyone that their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Very helpful Matt! I hadn’t even heard of TravelPony but I will definitely check it out. I am based in Sydney, Australia so not sure what the best site would be for hotels here, let me know if you have any insight

First thing I look on a travelling website is not the price but the possibility to pay in full with paypal so I don’t have to give my credit card number to anyone and avoid the possibly of being scammed.

I haven’t found Agoda that cheap for travel in Asia (but I’ve only travelled in Japan recently). I’ve checked their rates and found the rates are the same on the hotel sites.

I’ve travelled extensively in Japan got the best rates by booking in Japanese on a local site (usually Rakuten). It’s not so much that the prices are cheaper if you compare the same rooms, but the Japanese only site has a lot of smaller hotels that probably don’t think it’s worth their while looking outside the local market. Not sure if that’s the same for other countries.

This is a really detailed and useful post! Unfortunately, I think the rates differ greatly here in Asia. Expedia and Booking.com tend to give better rates for 3- and 4- star hotels, while the 5-star hotels and resorts are usually best booked through sample sale sites (a la Jetsetter).

I have to agree that metasearch sites like Trivago are unreliable; I don’t trust them at all to find the lowest rates and don’t even spend time on them. However, there’s one major site you didn’t cover: what about TripAdvisor prices (from Expedia, Hotels.com, Agoda etc.)?

Nice rundown Matt! I agree that Agoda wins hands-down across Asia. I use them almost exclusively in that part of the world and the point on cookies…..you have to beat them at their own game. Sometimes I get better rates on Agoda using their APP on my phone than using their website on my laptop.

I agree with this recommendation. I have used Venere.com for most of my trips to Europe and always get great deals. Got a 2 bedroom apartment in Prague, that also had a kitchenette(stocked with pots/pans/dishes) and a balcony with a view of the city, for 20€ a night. Also got a great hotel in Barcelona that was usually 240€ per night for 80€ per night.

Venere also typically has pretty good cancellation policies and I’ve never had an issue with a reservation upon checking in. If traveling to/within Europe, I would recommend at least giving Venere a look.

After checking these sites, I also go direct to the hotel and check out if they have any “specials”. Got a great deal with the Starwood group in London last year from their own website. Also in the UK, the Travel lodge group do good deals if you book ahead for the summer. Not 4star but comfortable and clean.

Great research, Matt. One thing you didn’t mention was the Welcome Rewards program for Hotels.com. I use it most of the time on the sole fact that I get a free hotel stay after booking 10 nights with them (actually, the average price of the 10 hotels can be put towards a future stay). This means that, if you travel and stay in hotels fairly frequently, you’re actually “saving” 10% on each booking. With this in mind, Hotels.com seems to wins over the other standard ones (expedia, booking) most of the time.

All the sites listed here have their own loyalty programs and it’s important that you pick the one that is right for you. I mention that towards the end of the article. I know a lot of people who prefer Expedia’s program. It comes own to personal preference.

Having spent about 6 months in various cheap hotels across Europe recently, my experience was that the fastest way to trace the best deal was to use Trivago.com, and then doublecheck their prices, as the best deals shown often do not exist.

Though Booking.com is often more expensive, at least it is reliable (prices and ratings), never any surprise, unlike with quite a few others like Expedia.com where upon showing up all of a sudden the hotel is not having Wifi, or is charging extra for this or that, or the room is hmmm very different from the photos…

In Germany, hrs.de is sometimes the better one, and isn’t listed in Trivago.com.
In Asia, I also usually found the best deals and choice with Agoda.

I know there are a lot of sites to check, but how come you left out tripadvisor? That is my absolute go-to because they give you a price comparison for a number of the hotel booking sites and the reviews give you the truth about the hotel. I always check the reviews on tripadvisor, regardless of the site I’m booking with, and have never been surprised by a hotel.

I stayed away from a lot of the meta-search sites because I wanted to compare the booking sites directly. Tripadvisor owns a lot of the companies it recommends. In fact, most of these websites are owned by one or two big companies.

In regards to reviews, be careful. Hotels pay for positive reviews there!

Thanks for this, Matt. I am a travel research junkie and comparison shop all the time. Two thoughts: While I use TripAdvisor to get referrals and things, and I look at the prices they offer, I really find Kayak.com to be the best for hotels. They have an option to get the final price rather than just the room price, so they build into the amount the taxes, “resort fees” and all the other little nasties that destroy a budget. It lets me compare apples to apples.

Secondly, for those times that you want to splurge, Marriott.com has a lowest price guarantee on their website; find it lower within 24 hours anywhere else and they give you the lower price + 25% off, even if the difference is just $1. I have stayed in 4 star hotels for under $80 and 3 stars for $55 in this way; Marriott has a huge range of chains and I can almost always find a lower price for at least one of their hotels if I’m headed to an urban area. And make sure you are a Marriott member…it doesn’t take too long to earn free nights at their lower level hotels (but skip their cc–it’s a loser for the annual fee).

Kayak meta-searches everyone. They can be pretty good but they search most of the sites I listed above which is why I didn’t include them. I wanted to go right to the source. But they can be a good starting point!

Thanks Matt. I am planning a big trip for next year 6-8 months mostly Africa and Middle East. I thought about using AirBnb but now I will definitively using your recommandations. If you find a website more useful specifically in Africa and Middle East can you let me know, please. Don’t listen negative people. Your work is great and useful for a lot of travelers.

Airbnb is very good but they aren’t hotels so they fall into a different category of accommodation. They are usually cheaper than hotels but I don’t know how widespread their listings are in those regions of the world.

am new to your site and love it…been livingnd travelling a in Asia for the last 20 years after a 7 yr world trip,I agree that Agoda is probably the best all around here,however if u look into 2-3 stars hotels,its definitely cheaper to contact the hotels direct,esspecially in thailand,indonesia for 4-5 stars use agoda…keep up the good work

Hey Matt,
Usually I just read your posts on my phone, but thought I had something useful to add this time :).
First, Hotels.com.
1) They do offer deals for last minute hotels. I consistently find this when I am a week from a trip and looking for final accommodations. While you are right that you shouldn’t wait, when you are just looking last minute, I suggest this site.
2) Their reward program isn’t bad. Sites like Agoda have a very vague “points system” where you don’t know exactly what you will get. Hotels is simple, buy 10 night, 1 free (average price of the previous 10).
3) The bad stuff: They charge a ridiculous mark up on check out. They have “fees AND taxes” which add about 12% on top of the price you see on the search. While this is usually small and worth it for cheaper hotels, it would definitely become a problem when the difference between two sites is small. It is also not counted towards the rewards.
4) Customer service. If you have any question, you can call them 24 hours a day and they respond quickly.
5) As of last year, Hotels.com now includes HOSTELS. While I love hostels, I find this misleading because sometimes, you think you are getting a room, but it is really a shared bed. However, sometimes, hostels do rent the room at a set price, even if it has many beds. This was my experience in Japan, and had to call hotels.com to verify (the hotel only spoke Japanese).
6) It is often cheaper for 2 people. I often travel with my gf, and for two people, it is surprisingly cheaper to stay in a hotel than 2 beds in a hostel. While I do look at hostels first, I end up in hotels more than half of the time.

Other stuff:
I know from the past that you really like Agoda, but I find it one of the worst sites for booking. I am not trying to be a naysayer, and have often said “let’s give them another chance” but end up frustrated.
1) The #1 worst thing is that you can’t search by price. It is the only booking website that limits your ability to do this.
2) Searching by “stars” isn’t the same. While logic would suggest that the lower the star rating the cheaper (and Agoda really wants to sell this point), this is not often true. You miss out on deals because of this. For example, there could be a 3 star hotel at $40 on a discount, but if most 1 star hotels are in the $50 range, you might not scroll that far down. While you may think this is rare, it actually consistently happens if you search on hotels.com.
3) They deceive on pricing and discounts. Sometimes, you think you are getting a great deal with Agoda because “it used to be 200 but now, 80!” which is not true. Sometimes, I’ve had no choice because of availability and not knowing better “Asia” sites, but hotels have constantly told me that they have never had a room so high. It is a flat out lie to fool you into thinking you are saving money. This happened to me in Kenting, Taiwan and have since cross referenced from time to time to confirm the practice is widespread.

Another consideration:
For Asia, asiarooms.com is pretty good. They often have many rooms in Asia, are consistently cheaper than agoda, and as far as I know, do not deceive. While some people say they don’t care about the company as long as it’s cheaper, personally, I don’t like giving business to cheats.

Thanks for the suggestions on other sites, I will definitely check them out.

I wanted to add another point to what Trent mentioned. I work (for another 3 wks, then I’m off to travel:) for a hotel and I can tell you that if you book through anyone other than the hotel you are unable to get issues resolved by the hotel..no discount if something is wrong with your room, no refunds if there is a major issue…niente. We are not even allowed to give you a receipt due to the price being different than what you paid (which is sometimes more than what we charge). People like receipts, so that alone makes them mad. But the hotel has a contract and it is listed that they will receive a fine if they give out a receipt. Unless you belong to a rewards program that you love and you don’t sweat the small stuff that can happen at any stay, you are better off asking the hotel what they can do for you. That way the hotel can satisfy you as a guest if a issue does arise. I shouldn’t have to say this, but the main thing when talking to the front desk is to be nice, if you’re rude you will not get your way.

I often use hotels.com. Sometimes I book a room right from the hotel lobby using my smartphone app.

Here’s my #1 tip. Always, and I mean ALWAYS read the reviews. I’ve seen hotels that have amazing pictures that turned out to be rancid. Likewise, you can’t always rely on a brand. I’ve seen motel 6’s that are amazing, and others that are a last resort to not sleeping in your vehicle. Likewise, a 3rd floor smoking room at the Red Roof in Tulsa isn’t nearly as nice as the 2nd floor remodeled non-smoking rooms. And a Red Roof I stayed at in Houston was my worst experience ever, while my friend stayed at a Red Roof Inn in the same city and said it was better than the Holday Inn Express’s that he had stayed at for much more. Sometimes, the “price” just isn’t worth it. Having a good night’s sleep is worth a few extra bucks for the next listing, so read the reviews.

Tip #2: Always look to see if they charge for parking, and likewise, Wi-Fi in the room. The difference in price between your top 2 hotels can often be made up with just these 2 surcharges.

Thanks for this Matt! I always check across Trip Advisor and Agoda.com in Asia for good rates + reliable recommendation places.

I figure its also worth mentioning how different the star ratings may be in Asia; whereas in other places it could be a way of assessing or managing expectations on service, in Asia it could be easily also dependent on what amenities are available – i.e. if you have a hair salon or a pool or an in house cafe, then *poof* you’re a five star hotel. Or if you only provide hotel rooms without amenities like towels or soap, *poof* you’re a 2 star hotel; without a majority consideration on the customer service aspect.

This guide is really detailed and helpful! Thank you for all those great suggestions. I actually have been using the “loser” site for most of my hotel bookings (booking.com), but now I probably won’t use them anymore. Thanks again! Great travel blog 🙂
Best,
Christina

Your criticism is simply to write the word “useless” on every post, not counter with any actual point or data. Write a thoughtful comment if you want it to stay. I don’t mind opposing views but writing “this blog is useless” is not something I’m going to keep around. It serves no point other than to take away from the positive environment we have here.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors but, while this blog is useful to a lot of people, it clearly isn’t for you. The Internet has a lot of travel websites that might be better suited for your needs. If you want, I can provide you a list for you.

Then why are you here? That’s like going into a teacher’s classroom and remarking, this place is a dump, this class is dumb..If you don’t like it leave! He’s giving out valuable information for free! I see things sometimes that I disagree with (on other blogs) but because my mom raised me right, I shut up, maybe skip that posting and be grateful that someone is using their energy to teach me something. I don’t know why people think the internet gives them free rein to be rude in a way they would never be face to face. It’s okay to disagree, that’s how good dialogue starts, but at least say why, how is this not relevant/useful to you etc..I thought the point about traveling is to also have positive human connections, this doesn’t seem like you are trying 🙁

Hi Matt, this is the most thorough comparison of hotel sites I’ve seen! Great work! 🙂 I’m curious about your search results for HotelsCombined. I’ve found their price comparison to be fair in the past. Did you compare the prices on both websites (HotelsCombined & Expedia) after all the fees are added? Because HotelsCombined includes fees in their prices and Expedia doesn’t.

HotelsCombined is a good meta-search site but it didn’t show as many listings as they promised. Personally, I wasn’t blown away by them or the prices they uncovered. They mostly showed the booking sites I listed.

Hi and thanx for such a good research and the article. I have never heard of Tingo and I will try it out soon! I also wanted to ask what you think of apps like Hotel Tonight? I know it is only a last minute booking app, but think when you try to find cheap hotels it is a very good resource. I always book my flights an hotel seperate, so when I arrived at my destination I check the rates and wait till around 6pm and then I book a cheap room.

That’s incredibly subjective. You can people on both sides of the fence (a quick Internet search can bring up people both loving and hating a site), which is why it’s not included. It has nothing to do with pricing.

Hi Matt,
I’ve stayed in quite a lot of hotels from dead cockroach to decadent (usually the five star ones were when I was working!), and I’ve found that while on one occasion one site had the lowest price for a particular hotel, for another hotel on a different occasion it was less competitive. I’m not clear whether you were comparing the same hotel on all the sites, but I think that’s got to be a given, just going on the star or any other rating really isn’t enough.
Another point: if you’re just looking for the cheapest gig, that’s one thing, but most people have other factors which feed into their choice too, like location, character, etc. Personally, I zero in on a few possibles, then check the main sites for prices on those hotels. I was surprised that Booking.com didn’t come out better in your survey, but then I don’t know much about the US, only Europe and Asia. Venere is pretty good for Italy, especially (full and frank disclosure: we use both on our site!).
BTW, as this is my first comment on your blog, may I say that you’ve got pretty solid content on your site compared to most travel blogs I read (I like your straightforward videos, too). More strength to your arm!

People definitely take a lot of different things into consideration when they book a hotel. There’s no doubt about it. But that’s all subjective – this was just to see which site consistently returned the cheapest results.

Hey Matt, great information and I appreciate all of your hard work to bring this to us. I also enjoy everything you write as well as your downloadable ebooks, so keep doing what you’re doing.

I’ve used Priceline in London and Dublin with really good success, but have found booking.com to be better for me personally when I’m looking at B&Bs. Not all let your book on their site so many opt to use Booking.com, which works well.

I’ve had some rough experiences with online booking. For example, recently in Spain, I booked a hotel through hotels.com. A descent price, to be sure. However when I got to the hotel I discovered that they charged the same price. The difference? Had I paid the hotel directly I would have gotten free parking and a free breakfast. Through hotels.com I had to pay an extra $20 for parking and had I chosen to have breakfast there, and additional $20. Not a bargain at all.

Oooh, great info, thanks. I’ve actually been having killer luck with HotelTonight in NYC. Decent rates ($150 range) for really great rooms in hotels I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. You have to be willing to risk last minute availability and price ranges, of course, but when you can it seems to pay off.

Having worked in hotels and with them for the past 10 years, I’m always interested in how consumers treat these third party sites.

Booking.com is owned by Priceline.
Hotels.com, Venere, and Hotwire are owned by Expedia.
TripAdvisor is owned by Expedia, which also operates Tingo along with 20+ other sites.

In terms of pricing, in this day and age, hotels are almost always linked directly to these 3rd party sites. They give their standard rate to the sites, and the sites discount them a certain percentage to the consumer. The hotels aren’t selling the rooms to these sites in advance – Expedia isn’t purchasing 400 room nights in a year from a hotel. They’re acting as a travel agent.

Expedia and most of the other sites take a huge commission from the hotels (20-30%) which is why they make it difficult to change/cancel reservations.
Booking.com charges 15% commission from the rates you see posted online. So even if a hotel offers a room at half price on Booking.com, they’re taking 15% of that leaving the hotel with next to nothing.

The best strategy is to look at a site like Hipmunk and contact the hotel directly to see if they’ll match the rate. You’ll get the loyalty points, maybe other perks like a voucher for the restaurant, and allow the hotel to give you a much better stay. If someone pays the Expedia rate, they are the last ones to get upgraded to a better room if one becomes available.

A lot of hotel chains offer a ‘best rate guarantee’ so if you find something on a booking site its worth checking the chain for their policy on that, you might pick up points or a get a free perk.

Also, Google has a great hotel search https://www.google.com/hotels/ engine that will pull rates from many places and they have a neat metric that tells you if the hotel is over- or under-priced. I don’t think you’ll find any deals like travelpony but I think they’re a pretty neutral source for pricing (similarly their flight search is my favorite source)

Yep, and it can be pretty lucrative sometimes. Choice (Comfort, Quality, etc.) and IHG (Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, etc.) will give you a free night for a successful “BRG” claim. Marriott matches the lower price plus an additional 25% off. Best Western matches the rate and gives you a $100 gift card. Hilton matches the rate and gives a $50 gift card. Others have their own similar programs. Definitely worth checking out.

They do this because they lose 20-30% of revenue to travel agency commission on reservations booked through other sites, so they’re strongly incentivized to make sure other sites aren’t violating industry “MFN” contracts and undercutting their own published rates. There is a whole art to finding and filing a successful claim, though, so Google “hotel BRG” and you’ll find lots of info.

Cancellation paperwork and customer service in the philipines full or corporate obscuration. “Twenty-four hours” was really twenty-four business hours, meaning three days. Hotels.com takes full payment of your money for the reservation in an instant, and then drags its feet on cancellation. Cancellation was well within

The most helpful post I’ve ever read! Thank you! I’ve been planning my trip to Italy, but I was having a hard time finding good places to stay, there are so many options and so many websites that we sometimes get lost. Your post just saved us a lot of planning time 🙂 Keep posting, your blog is awesome!!

Everytime I read one of these “comaprison” columns, I am reminded how little most people understand the travel business.

A couple of important facts – Expedia, Hotels & Hotwire are ALL THE SAME COMPANY, They all pull from the same database which is why you don’t see a difference in pricing.

Booking and Priceline ARE THE SAME COMPANY, and they also pull from the same database.

According to affiliate window, Travelpony is a single point user of a GDS, which is a very old style connection to a limited number of hotels, which is why they couldn’t provide results for so many markets.

Given the consolidation that has happened in the market, a wise consumer should really be looking at the hotel websites directly – they often reserve the best prices for their loyalty customers which are not distributed to any third party websites, including meta search engines. I’m shocked the author didn’t bother looking.

I found this page http://www.mytripod.co . They are not a search engine but you send them your quote and they will find you a better rate . They take a bit answering (couple hours) but their prices are better , sometimes considerable . A friend of mine booked with them and they saved a lot , for a room they found on hotels.com , same room . They charge a fee for this , i believe a percentage , but still , everything (total with taxes , services and fees) below the price you find in most of search engines.

You can surely go and check in there if you are in Yuma anytime. They have very cheap rates and additional cool deals that go easy on your wallet. The deals will end soon I guess, so hurry up! GoTravelling!

Wow! Thank you Matt for sharing all of your research for free. I don’t travel much but I’m starting to do more of late. I travel alone and I feel so overwhelmed and stressed out when making my travel arrangements. I feel like I have the word “Newbie” stamped on my forehead! I’m in the process of planning a trip to Ashville NC and Miami. I will definitely be following your steps and websites mentioned. Thanks again!! I’m going to buy your book about how to travel for free in the near future! Happy travels!

Please, just avoid Expedia! While their prices may be better, if there is ANY complication in your booking (problem getting confirmation number, changes, any other problems), Expedia will be completely worthless to you. We booked a hotel by phone since we were already on the road. They booked it and charged our credit card but they couldn’t give us a confirmation number. Their system was down and we were put on hold. The operator kept coming back promising it would be resolved in just a few minutes and we waited a total of two HOURS! We asked them to call us back when they had the problem resolved. I called them a few hours later. They said their system was back up but we had no reservations but they’d book it for us. Okay. But the hotel room we were promised was no longer available at the price we had “already booked” at. It would cost us an extra $30 per night. Not a chance. I asked about the chance that they did already book our hotel but just didn’t have a record of it. Could we possibly be getting charged twice? “Absolutely not!” they assured us. They also offered to book us airfare to the town we were already in. By the tone of their voice, it was very very obvious that the agents didn’t care whether or not we were satisfied. Just for grins, I walked into the hotel (it had been another two hours since I called them back) and, with the agent still on the line, the front desk confirmed that we had reservations. They wanted to book airfare for us to the town we were already in and book us an additional room on top of the reservation they already had for us. We were not happy and were promised a callback within 48 hours from a manager to reimburse us for our time and hassle. A week later, no call back. I called them and they had absolutely no record of any problem. They said, “There’s no problem. I see only the one reservation and that is the only thing you were charged for.”

Please, just don’t use Expedia. Don’t believe me? Do a Google search for Expedia reviews. I doubt you’ll find any average higher than 1.2 out of 5.

I just want to say you can go wrong with Tingo. Forget rest easy or peace of mind. Let’s say you book the standard room for $100 then the deluxe is advertised at $90 and as the Tingo website says tingo gets you the lowest price and then makes sure you keep getting the lowest price – yay right your gonna pay less – wrong! You will be stuck in a worse room at a higher price no upgrade and no refund for you because it’s a different room type and believe me there’s a lot of room types and a lot of fine print. The room you booked may mysteriously never get cheaper as Tingo advertises rooms with all sorts of names at lower prices but never rooms by the name of the ones they’ve already sold. Be very very careful. Tingo can be a very bad experience.

I must relate a very bad experiece with the Priceline site. I booked for 6 days in a 3-star hotel, but reached Chicago by midnight. After visiting friends, who invited me to spend that night and go to the Hotel next day. As common sense would dictate, I accepte my friend’s offer only to find that I forfeited the 6 day stay at the Hotel and lost all the money. All that loss just for not showing the first night. Perhaps, it was stated in the small print, but I was left with a loss of over $700 and got nothing in return. Perhaps, this note would help other to be very careful in dealing with Priceline.

I must say that booking early is one of the best ways to get a discount hotel reservation.

And the earlier you book your hotel room the more discount you may receive. Hotels manage their reservations to ensure that the hotel books the maximum number of rooms at the maximum room rate possible.

And the hotel will certainly make sure that the number of bookings exceeds the hotel’s break even point so that it is profitable.